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Dairy farm owner Jeff Kooyman pauses for a moment during a media tour of the Kooyman family dairy farm in Chilliwack, B.C., Tuesday, June, 10, 2014. The animal rights group Mercy for Animals Canada released a undercover video that showed the cows being beaten and mistreated.

Photograph by: Jonathan Hayward
, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Eight Chilliwack farm workers could face up to 18 months in prison and be banned from working with animals for life if the B.C. SPCA is successful in its recommendation to press criminal charges.

The SPCA is pushing for animal cruelty charges against the workers seen in an undercover video that shows dairy cows at Chilliwack Cattle Sales farm being whipped, punched and kicked. The footage shows workers beating the cows with chains, rakes and canes while swearing at the animals. Wounds can be seen on the cows' legs and udders.

The Crown has yet to approve the charges, which could also see the workers fined $10,000, said SPCA spokeswoman Lorie Chortyk. She said the SPCA would be happy with a ban and three-to-six months in jail for the workers, all of whom have been fired, but said the main goal is to encourage change in the industry to ensure the animals are monitored on a regular basis.

"There is a code of practice for dairy farmers but because it's not enshrined in law there's nobody monitoring it," Chortyk said. "Our goal is to work with industry to improve things."

Chortyk said the video was shot undercover during the month of May by a Mercy for Animals investigator, who accepted a job with Chilliwack Cattle Sales farm. She said it was her understanding that the worker had approached the employers about the abuse but decided to give the video to the SPCA on June 2 when no changes had been made.

"The cows on this dairy factory farm experience nothing but fear, violence, and deprivation at the hands of sadistic animal abusers," Twyla Francois, of Mercy For Animals Canada, said in a statement. "This investigation proves that the dairy industry is incapable of self-regulation. The government must step in to create and enforce standards to protect farmed animals from needless cruelty."

Jeff Kooyman, whose family owns Chilliwack Cattle Sales, insisted he and his brothers didn't know of the abuse until they saw the video and were devastated by the situation, which he said "looked like a scene for a horror movie."

The owners plan to install surveillance cameras throughout the farm to monitor employees, and an independent veterinarian brought in by the SPCA has made a number of recommendations for improving animal care, he added. The farm has more than 3,500 dairy cows, which provide milk sold under the Dairyland brand, which is owned by the Montreal-based Saputo — Canada's largest dairy company.

The farm is certified under the Canadian Quality Milk Program run by the Dairy Farmers of Canada, which aims to ensure proper management and food safety on dairy farms. The workers had been with the farm between three months and three years, Kooyman said.

"We deeply apologize for what has happened," Kooyman said in an interview. "Obviously we need to do better with our training and make sure it doesn't happen again."

Kooyman said the farm's vet, Dr. David Dykshorn, had been visiting the cows two or three times a week and didn't notice any abuse. Both men said the wounds seen on the cows were likely caused by other cows as they went in and out of their pen.

The incident is being jointly investigated by the B.C. Dairy Association, which along with the B.C. Farm Animal Care Council (BCFACC), supports the SPCA's push for stricter standards of care for farm animals to be incorporated into B.C. law.

The B.C. ministry of agriculture website noted farmers are responsible for ensuring that the basic physical needs of animals in their care are met. Primary requirements essential to survival include nutritious feed, clean water, climate-appropriate shelter or housing and health care. In addition, farmers need to practice humane handling techniques to satisfy animals' needs for comfort.

Carolyn MacLaren, general manager of BCFACC, said at the moment the farmers tend to self-regulate themselves with specific codes of practice for different farm animals. and there is no mandatory inspections of farms.

"It's really an industry that monitors itself at this point in time, and when there are issues of animal abuse the SPCA is brought in," MacLaren said. "This is definitely the worst I've seen. But this is not typical."

B.C. Dairy Association chairman Dave Taylor said the incident is a black mark on the industry and there is zero tolerance for such actions.

"Having witnessed the footage, we are deeply shaken," he said. "Organizationally, we will be taking proactive steps to further our already strong animal care practices."

Wally Smith, head of the Dairy Farmers of Canada, said the abuse is intolerable.

"I hate to see animals mistreated," Smith said in a statement Tuesday. "I cannot begin to understand why some people would do this to animals."

The B.C. Milk Marketing Board said Tuesday it is deeply concerned with the report of animal abuse but is waiting for more facts to emerge from the investigation before it "determines what additional requirements will immediately be required by Chilliwack Cattle in order to ensure industry standards for animal care are followed."

"Any mistreatment of animals is absolutely unacceptable," chairman Jim Byrne said in a statement on the board's website. "Although animal welfare does not come under the Milk Marketing Board's authority as a regulator, we need to be assured that dairy cows are well-taken care of."

Dairy farm owner Jeff Kooyman pauses for a moment during a media tour of the Kooyman family dairy farm in Chilliwack, B.C., Tuesday, June, 10, 2014. The animal rights group Mercy for Animals Canada released a undercover video that showed the cows being beaten and mistreated.

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